00 Cavalier runs for a second or two

Does this happen when you first start the engine or after it has been running for a while?

This condition just started. The engine is cold. I have gotten it to start and run twice now. The tach and instrument cluster will work until the engine quits. After the engine quits it will only spin over until you return the key to the off position for a few seconds and retry. Until you return the key to the off position the instruments will not work nor will the door chime.

You have a component of wire that is corroded and not letting current through, check out all connections starting at BOTH sides of the battery!!! A bad one will often get very hot!!!! Do not burn yourself, use a temperature probe if possible....once it cools down you have your connection again.......

Even the battery itself might cause the problem, temporarily replace it with a known good battery....

Even fuses sometime do strange things. Leave no point unchecked.

Sadly the failure could lie behind the steering wheel, a bad place to start looking!!! Check all other possibilities first.

Best of luck.

Bad ignition switch?

ie: In the start mode power is supplied to starting circuit and engine circuit.Engine starts

After engine start,when key is rotated to the run position,the faulty engine circuit

cannot maintain current.Engine dies.

Could be a fuse also.

Hope this helps.

J.

Hello Cajunquint,

Check your oil sending unit. GM likes to slave the fuel pump to it. There is a 2 second override solenoid on the firewall but if the oil pressure is perceived as not coming up the power is cut to the fuel pump to prevent engine damage.

Brad

Good starting point. Does the car have oil? Does the car have oil pressure when starting? Do you have fuel pressure after it dies?I think it would be easier to check electricity than fuel. Pull a spark plug wire off of a spark plug. Push a small screwdriver into the end, and have it about 1/4" from a grounded part of the engine. Start the car. As it dies, did the spark stop before the engine stopped, or was the engine slowing down while there was spark?

If you had good spark as the car died, you can bypass the oil pressure switch by jumping power directly to the fuel pump power feed. This car has a short length of red wire connected near the driver's side spring tower. It was sent from the factory with a black plastic connector covering it, and taped to the harness. This is designed for testing the fuel pump operation. Look until you find this short wire. You can connect a test light to this, and watch the action of the fuel pump. If the oil pressure switch is not allowing power to the fuel pump, you can jump power to this connection to allow the pump to run. USE THIS AS A TEST ONLY. If this allows the car to run, you will need to fix the power to the oil pressure switch, or the switch it self. The only other thing I can think of that would stop the pressure switch would be no oil pressure. Good luck.

If this car has passlock II, (the key with the chip in it) it may be the anti-theft circuit. Go to Bulldog Security website for complete wiring diagram.

The Passlock system was not popular on these inexpensive cars, but is very easy to check for the chip. At least if the car had no chip key, it can be ruled out.

The key has not chip on it. I have found if I quickly turn the key back and forth between just before start and run positions, that sometimes I can get the engine to stay running. But the instruments work about half the times that the engine is running. All the lights go out when the engine is running. ( no check engine, or service light.) When the engine runs for only a second or two all the gauges and lights go dead, as if the ignition switch is in the off position. When I turn the switch to run, none of the instrument gauges or lights or even the odometer will come on. Only when the engine is running properly.

After reading my last reply, if you still are looking for solutions. Thy this. GM used two power feeds to the ignition switch. One was for the accessories, and one was for the ignition related items. If you can get to the feed wires for the ignition switch. there should be two heavy red wires, or one red, and one pink. both should be #12 gauge or larger, and both should be live at all times. If not, look for damaged fusible links. They could be at the alternator, the positive battery connection, or the junction block at the fire wall. That much I can not tell you. But Andy is correct. If you have a bad connection, it can be a bear to pinpoint. Good luck.

GA for you, I forgot fusible links!! Very likely on a cheap car.....

Some look the same even when broken/Fused!!! Been there, done that and got the T-Shirt!!!

After my third shirt I learned to pull the fusible link. The ones that stretch like a rubber band have let the smoke escape.

Some one told me I was gullible and I believed them.

I had one that was still stiff and a meter showed it was open!! Mitsubishi!! I had only "finger" tested it, my failure.....

I had this problem with my Chevy PU.

The oil sending unit by the oil filter was the input signal to run the fuel pump.

The Cheap manual had little to go by so it took me two days to this figure out.

You have a pump test pin in your electrical socket to test the car when new. Route power to it and the pump will run continually.(only test this way) And careful I covered my intake manifold with fuel real quick doing this.

Replace the oil pressure sending unit the fuel pump is slaved off of and your system will work.

Brad

When you had this problem, did the instrument cluster not light up? In my car the instruments will not work even before you try to start the car. When you turn the ignition switch to run nothing but the check engine light lights up. When you start the car it kills after only a second or two, and the gauges all go dead even the check engine light, and the car will not start until you cycle the ignition switch back to off and then to run and the check engine light comes back on. I have had it running and some times the gauges and lights work and sometimes they do not.

My 89 CK1500 has analog gages the fuel gage still does not work (a pain). Before I changed the oil sending unit: oil pressure, fuel, and radio had intermittent issues. The radio still has some power issues that are rare. The fuel gage doesn't work at all. 315,000 miles so some electrical issues are not too unexpected.

From your description you have more than one issue. If you can afford it get a Helms manual for you car it will be well worth the $100USD price. Use the wiring diagrams to find both your problems. I can't find one for my Pickup and that sucks.

Brad

Check for a good ground and check for corrosion at the main fuse link location where all the cables connect to the fuse box.

if your gauges don't work and the car shuts down after you let go of the key you need an ingniton switch check it by holding the key in start and slowly back it off till you get to the run position if the car stays runing wiggle the key if it shuts down you have a dead spot in the switch check this first then go for the fuel pump oil presure switch and other things

Good answer. An easy test, with results that are easy to see.

Does the Cavalier have an electronic distributor? If yes, try that - I recently had EXACTLY the same problem on a 1993 Mazda 626 V6. The motoring organisation (RAA in South Australia) came out to the roadside and suggested this was the cause. Mazda agent confirmed it was and replaced the distributor - now runs great.